ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Home Affairs
Security Situation Improves in Jammu and Kashmir
The security situation in the State has witnessed an improvement in the first half of this year over the corresponding period of 2018. Net infiltration has reduced by 43% and local recruitment has declined by 40%. Terrorist initiated incidents have declined by 28%. Actions initiated by the security forces witnessed an increase of 59% and have resulted in 22% increase in neutralization of terrorists.
The security forces are taking proactive action against terrorists. Due to concerted and synergized efforts of security forces, 126 terrorists have been neutralized in the state of Jammu and Kashmir since January, 2019 till 14th July, 2019. However, during these operations, 75 security forces personnel have been martyred that includes 40 security forces personnel martyred in Pulwama Attack.
Government has taken various measures, such as strengthening of security apparatus, strict enforcement of law against anti-national elements, intensified cordon and search operations to effectively deal with the challenges posed by the terrorist organizations. Forces keep a close watch on persons who attempt to provide support to terrorists and initiate action against them.
For a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue the Government is always open to talks within the framework of the Constitution of India.
In order to bring about overall development for the benefit of people of Jammu and Kashmir and to bring the Kashmiri youth in the mainstream the Prime Minister has announced a package of Rs.80,068 crores. This package consists of 63 major development projects in Road sector, Power generation and transmission, health infrastructure, establishment of 2 AIIMS, IITs, IIMs and tourism related projects etc. Training and employment opportunities for the youth of Jammu and Kashmir are also provided under many schemes such as HIMAYAT and PMKVY. In order to mainstream the youth, special emphasis is being given to Watan Ko Jano program, student exchange program, sports as well as civic action program of CAPFs. .
This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri G. Kishan Reddy in a written reply to question in the Rajya Sabha today.
Special Service and Features
3.716 kgs of Gold of 24 k purity totally worth Rs 1.70 crore by Chennai Air Customs.
Based on specific information, two passengers  who arrived from Colombo by Indigo flight 6E-1208 at 04:35 hours were intercepted by Customs Officers. On search of their baggage, two grey coloured plastic pouches containing gold rubbery paste were recovered from each of them.
The recovered Gold totally weighing 1.596 kgs valued at Rs.72.63 lakhs was seized under Customs Act, 1962. Two passenger namely Shri Thameem Ansari S/o Shri Mohamed Hussain resident of Mannady, Chennai and Smt. Sajitha YasminW/o Shri Mushabar Kani resident of Muthiyalpettai, Chennai were arrested under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962.
In another case, based on inputs from by CISF personnel, the Air Intelligence Officers, Chennai Customs recovered a suspicious multicolour polythene bag lying unclaimed inside the dustbin in the toilet of the Arrival hall of the Chennai International Airport. The same was recovered and found to contain six plastic pouches of different sizes containing Gold in paste form. On extraction, Gold ingot weighing 2.12 Kgs, valued at Rs. 97.57 lakhs was recovered and seized under the Customs Act, 1962.
Further investigations under progress, according to the press release issued by Pr. Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport
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Ministry of Education
Union Minister of Education virtually addresses the 26th National Annual Conference of Sahodaya School Complexes
Union Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ addressed the 26th National Annual Conference of Sahodaya School Complexes as the Chief Guest via video conferencing today.
On the occasion, the Minister released Conference Souvenir titled SAMARTHAN - which is a compilation of the best teaching practices in the country. He also released CBSE Manuals on Inclusive Education, Joyful Learning and Physical Education for classes XI and XII.
Addressing the Conference, Minister spoke about the collective responsibility of every citizen towards making India a self - reliant country and evolving her into a New India with limitless possibilities. He praised the school principals and teachers for working on the ideals laid down by Mahatma Gandhi in his philosophy of Nai Taleem. He urged them to make rigorous efforts for the effective implementation of New Education Policy 2020 which has been prepared after widespread consultation and taking into consideration the views of the stakeholders. Speaking about the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of a New India of the 21st century, he urged the school principals and teachers to work collaboratively to make it a reality.
The Guest of Honour Shri Suresh Kumar, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education and Sakala, Govt. of Karnataka launched the Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat program video depicting the two paired states of Uttarakhand and Karnataka.
Mrs. Anita Karwal, Secretary, School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education addressed the gathering on various aspects of the future of Education in the country. Mrs. Karwal voiced the need for every teacher to take up the challenges and convert them into opportunities to bring about the realisation of holistic education. Shri Manoj Ahuja, Chairman, CBSE expounded the varied aspects of the NEP 2020. The keynote speaker of the conference, Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw spoke about how teachers and children have adapted to the change in teaching styles.
The 26th National Annual Conference of Sahodaya School Complexes organised by CBSE and hosted by the Bangalore Sahodaya Schools Complex Association is being attended virtually by more than 4000 participants from schools across India and overseas.
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
A Swachhata Warrior in Each of Us: Sadhguru
“Broom is not the tool that will clean India. It is the active Participation of citizens that will play a crucial role in keeping our towns and Cities Clean”. Sadhguru
Swachhata Warriors Interact with Sadhguru
MoHUA, in Collaboration with Isha Foundation, Organizes Live Webinar With The Spiritual Guru
Shri Sadhguru, has said that that there is a Swachhata Warrior in each of us. “The broom is not the tool that will clean India. It is the active participation of citizens that will play a crucial role in keeping our towns and cities clean”, he added. Shri Sadhguru was addressing a live webinar titled ‘Swachhata Warriors with Sadhguru in Challenging Times’ organized by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs , in collaboration with Isha Foundation. The hour long webinar had Sadhguru interact with District Collectors/ Municipal Commissioners from Ujjain, Surat, East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Agra and Madurai and provide powerful insights on facing the present crisis. The session dedicated to the frontline COVID champions – the Safai Karmacharis, was moderated by Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA and saw the spiritual Guru also respond to a set of questions posed by sanitation workers. The session was webcast live through YouTube  with simultaneous translation of the same available in Hindi .
Shri Sadhguru started by acknowledging the critical role that the Swachh Bharat Mission  has played in significantly improving the levels of cleanliness of the country, and particularly saluted the efforts of the sanitation workers who are at the forefront of the Mission in the past five years.
Along with answering the questions posed by ULB representatives and sanitation workers, Shri Sadhguru highlighted the importance of motivating the Swachhata Warriors along with ensuring the availability of adequate personal protective equipment and uniforms for sanitation workers to allay their fears and provide them with a sense of while on the job. He further added, “Sanitation, needless to say, is a big challenge. Along with the segregation and processing of wet and dry waste, the treatment of waste from industries and discharge of sewage from domestic industries also need to be paid attention to. Besides, dry waste segregation needs to be incentivized in some ways in order to encourage citizens to take it up with more enthusiasm”.
The session was attended by a wide range of stakeholders across 4300+Urban Local Bodies  across India which included Municipal Commissioners, Chief Executive Officers, political representatives such as Mayors along with health workers, sanitation workers, self-help group members, and all frontline COVID champions.
RJ/NG
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Ministry of Development of North-East Region
Development of Assam
Government of India has been giving a special thrust to development of North Eastern Region , including State of Assam. As per the NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals  India Index, which measures the development status of States and UTs of India in social, economic and environmental sectors, the composite score of Assam which was 49 in the year 2018-19 has improved to 55 in 2019-20 and further to 57 in 2020-21.
Government of India is also implementing various flagship and other schemes for the development of the States including Assam through the respective administrative Ministries/Departments within the approved financial outlays as per scheme design. The data on funds sanctioned/utilized for the Centrally Sponsored Schemes by States & UTs is not maintained in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region. However, as per extant policy, each non-exempted Central Ministries/ Departments is mandated to spend at least 10% of its Gross Budgetary Support  to Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored schemes for NER. The actual expenditure in NER including Assam, under 10% GBS by non-exempted Ministries/ Departments is as follows:
|
|
Year
|
|
Amount 
|
|
2018-19
|
|
46054.80
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|
2019-20
|
|
48533.80
|
|
2020-21
|
|
48563.82
|
|
2021-22

|
|
38455.57
This information was given by the Minister for Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Shri G. Kishan Reddy in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Education
Vocational education to increase employability of students
Education being in the concurrent list of the Constitution, majority of the schools are under the domain of the respective State and UT Governments. Hub and Spoke model of vocational education has been introduced under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Samagra Shiksha’ from the year 2021-22. A total number of 136 hub schools and 241 spoke schools have been approved during 2021-22. Under this model, it has been envisaged to utilize the existing vocational infrastructure of hub schools for providing vocational education in nearby spoke schools. No targets were set during the last three years as the hub and spoke modelhas been introduced from the year 2021-22. Employability skills module has been made an integral part of vocational courses.
The information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Smt. Annpurna Devi in a written reply in the RajyaSabha today.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Sufficient sugar availability in the country at reasonable prices: Department of Food and Public Distribution
Indian Sugar is Cheapest in the World
94% cane dues of current season already paid to farmers
Timely measures of Government of India have ensured sufficient availability of sugar at reasonable prices throughout the country for the whole year. As the current Sugar Season  2022-23 is coming to an end on 30 Sep 2023, India has already crossed sugar production of 330 LMT excluding diversion of about 43 LMT for ethanol production. Thus, total sucrose production in the country would be about 373 LMT which is second highest in last 5 sugar seasons.
Ensuring priority to Citizens of the Country and clearance of cane due to farmers, India restricted exports quota to about 61 LMT only. This has resulted in optimal stock of approximately 83 LMT of sugar at the end of August, 2023. This stock is sufficient to meet approximately 3 and half months of consumption i.e. optimum stock available in the country at the end of current sugar season 2022-23. This fact reassures the domestic consumers that sugar is expected to be available for them at a reasonable price in future also.
As forecasted by IMD, till date monsoon has been normal in September 2023 and sugarcane areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka have also received rains improving prospects for better crops and recovery in ensuing SS 2023-24. State Cane Commissioners of all sugar producing states have been requested to keep a watch on the status of crops and update their information on area under cane, yield and anticipated sugar production. This information would become basis for taking any decision regarding sugar export policy for next season. Government of India has always prioritize availability of sugar for domestic consumption, diversion for ethanol production and sufficient closing balance at the end of season. Only surplus sugar, if available, is allowed for exports. This mechanism ensures stability of prices in domestic market. It is the outcome of this policy only that Indian consumers are getting sugar at one of the lowest prices in the world with no government subsidy to the sugar mills.
In addition, as a proactive measure, Government of India has sought information related to traders from various sugar mills so that a mechanism may be put in place to closely monitor sugar stock in various parts of the country. Industry Associations also, in their feedback, have confirmed sufficient stocks and appreciated that achievement of optimum closing balance of sugar at the end of season has resulted in better financial status of mills. It is outcome of all collective efforts of Government and Industry that more than ₹ 1.07 crores  have already been paid by mills which further creates enthusiasm among farmers about the Sugar Sector.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
E-surveillance systems installed at tiger reserves
E-surveillance system is established in the Corbett Tiger Reserve , Kaziranga Tiger Reserve  and Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhopal  with funding support from ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger  and Grants-in-Aid to National Tiger Conservation Authority .
Establishment of e-surveillance is assisted by the Central Government based on the site specific need based proposals from States.
The funding assistance provided under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger and Grants-in-Aid to National Tiger Conservation Authority for installation of e-surveillance system to Corbett Tiger Reserve, Kaziranga Tiger Reserve and Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary is as under:-

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|
Sl. No.
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|
Name of Tiger Reserve/ Wildlife Sanctuary
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|
Central Share
CSS-PT
|
|
State Share
CSS-PT
|
|
Grants-in-Aid to NTCA
|
|

|
|
Corbett Tiger Reserve
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|
241.47
|
|
26.83
|
|
372.19
|
|

|
|
Kaziranga Tiger Reserve
|
|
263.09
|
|
7.01
|
|
0.00
|
|

|
|
Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary
|
|
0.00
|
|
0.00
|
|
133.04
This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Finance
Union Finance Minister to hold interactive sessions on Budget 2020 in Hyderabad on February 16
The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman is visiting Hyderabad on February 16, 2020. The Finance Minister will meet with industry representatives, trade bodies, investment bankers and farmers’ organizations and interact with them on various themes and provisions in the Union Budget 2020-21, presented in Parliament on February 1, 2020. She will also hold another detailed interactive session with economists, tax practitioner associations, financial and accounting firms, professional bodies, academicians, policy makers and various other opinion leaders regarding the salient features of the Budget.
The Finance Minister will be joined by Secretary , Secretary , Secretary , Secretary  and Chairperson, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs  and Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes .
The Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman had similar interactive sessions in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata last week. After the interactions with stakeholders as above, the Union Minister will address a press conference.
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Ministry of Corporate Affairs
MCA amends One Person Companies  rules
Fast track mergers extended to Starts ups and other small companies
As a measure which directly benefits Startups & Innovators in the country, especially those who are supplying products & services on e-commerce platforms, and in order to bring in more unincorporated businesses into the organized corporate sector, the incorporation of One Person Companies  is being incentivized by amending the Companies  Rules to allow OPCs to grow without any restrictions on paid up capital and turnover, allowing their conversion into any other type of company at any time, reducing the residency limit for an Indian citizen to set up an OPC from 182 days to 120 days and also allow Non-Resident Indians  to incorporate OPCs in India.
In addition, the fast track process for mergers under the Companies Act, 2013 has also been now extended to also include mergers of Startups with other Startups and with Small companies, so that the process of mergers & amalgamations is completed faster for such companies.
The amendments to the Rules governing OPCs will cover the following, w.e.f 01st April 2021 :
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- Previously NRIs were not allowed to incorporate OPCs. Now any natural person, who is an Indian citizen, whether resident in India or otherwise would be allowed to form an OPC.
- For being considered as a resident in India, the residency period has been proposed to be reduced to 120 days from 182 days for NRIs.
- Rule relating to voluntary conversion unless OPC has completed two years from the date of incorporated is proposed to be omitted and with effect from 01.04.2021, Conversion of One Person Company into a Public company or a Private company shall be permitted anytime. A One Person company may be converted into a Private or Public Company other than a company registered under section 8 of the Act, after increasing the minimum number of members and directors to two or minimum of seven members and three directors as the case may be,
- Similarly the limitation of Paid up capital & turnover presently applicable for OPCs  is being done away with so that there are no restrictions on the growth of OPCs in terms of their paid up capital & turnover.
- Rationalization of e-forms applicable for OPCs by omitting e-Form No.INC-5 and modification of e-form INC-6 
- Amendment notification issued on 01.02.2021.
Ministry of Railways
Indian Railways maintains its freight corridors fully functional to transport essential commodities during Covid 19 lockdown
New Delhi, 2nd April, 2020
To ensure timely delivery of essential commodities for citizens and goods vital for energy & infrastructure sector, Indian Railways has maintained its freight corridors fully functional during the Covid 19 lockdown.
During last 3 days, Railways delivered 7,195 wagons of foodgrains, 64,567 wagons of coal, 3,314 wagons of steel and 3,838 wagons of petroleum. Total 1,43,458 wagons of freight were loaded in the last three days through 2,276 rakes crisscrossing the country.
Foodgrains, sugar, salt, fruits and vegetables are among the essential commodities being increasingly transported by the Railways.
Issues which were earlier being faced by Railways at many terminal points in loading and unloading operations are being effectively resolved . Indian Railways along with Ministry of Home affairs is keeping in touch with State Governments to sort out any such operational issue if they arise.
President's Secretariat
President of India pays floral tributes to Shri R. Venkataraman on his Birth Anniversary
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, paid floral tributes to Shri R. Venkataraman, former President of India, on the occasion of his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan today .
The President, family members of Shri R. Venkataraman as well as officers and staff of the President’s Secretariat paid respects before a portrait of Shri R. Venkataraman in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
India is Becoming a Role Model for Emerging Economies, says Shri Dharmendra Pradhan;
We are Working to Build an India of 21st Century that is Able to Fulfill Its Own Requirements and also of the World
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhanhas appealed to every citizen of the country to contribute in the making of a prosperous and self-reliant India. Addressing a web conference on ‘Building Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by PHDCCI today, he shared his views on Prime Minister’s vision of #AatmanirbharBharat and its role in transforming India into a global manufacturing hub that not only caters to own requirements, but also of the world.
Shri Pradhan said that today, India is becoming a role model for emerging economies. “Our focus is on serving the last man in the society and truly achieve the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. India is rich in natural resources, has demographic dividend, widespread availability of ports that offer a conducive ecosystem to businesses and industries. We are working to build an India of 21st century that is able to fulfill its own requirements and also of the world”, he added.
The Minister said that from Swadesi movement &Dandi march by Mahatma Gandhi to the clarion call of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the philosophy of 'aatmanirbharta' has been the constant driving force behind building a more resilient and self-reliant India. He said that Corona crisis has not dampened the spirit of the countrymen, and the country’s economy is on the path of revival. The GST collections last month were 4% more than the corresponding period last year, the Railway freight has shot up 15%, and exports are up 5%. Sale of petrol and diesel has also reached the normal levels.
The Minister said that the Government is working to make India a manufacturing hub, and also move towards the knowledge based economy. He reiterated that the Government has no business to be in the business, and it should focus only on people’s welfare. In this direction, he said, the Government has taken initiatives for ease of doing business, adopting transparent procedures, eliminating corruption, and respecting the wealth creators. Talking about the initiatives in the Petroleum and Natural Gas sector, he said that the LPG connections have reached 95% of the population, including over 8 crore poor families. BS-VI standard fuels have been introduced this April. Energy justice is being ensured. The Minister said that Steel sector has also been contributing in the export push of the country.
YB/SK
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